We started the meeting by talking about things we learned in the previous week or two.
Alex told us about his experiment with jumping on a trampoline while reading a book. He said it was a failure (very literally, since he fell and bumped his knee). He also explained about the difference between regular and spring-free trampolines. This got us to discuss the limitations of the LEGO bricks in terms of bounce, flexibility, etc. The general feeling was that it wasn’t possible to build a working trampoline driven by a motor (this discussion happened before Mark David got to the meeting).
However, Alex watched a video on how to make a working trampoline out of LEGOs and his mom shared the link - __http://youtu.be/8lEQZtStrck__
Your child might be interested in watching it and building their own version of this model. If they decide to use it in their challenge, they will need to overcome 1 obstacle - in the video, the model uses a regular rubberband, but the JrFLL rules specify that only standard LEGO components can be used in the model. Can this model be built to fit this requirement? Something for the kids to think about and try at home.
We also talked about things that help us learn and things that distract us from learning. As we discussed these factors, we figured out that some distractions can, under right circumstances, be transformed into help (for example, a friend is a distraction if he’s talking while you’re trying to learn; but a friend is helpful if he’s helping you understand the things you’re trying to learn; a book can be helpful if it is relevant to the subject you’re studying, but a distraction if you stay up way late reading it and then are too tired in class the next day). Alex said that a book is also helpful because it can be read to a noisy brother (distraction) and keep him quiet.
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Simple Machines
We spent the next 40 minutes or so exploring simple machine kits through a series of mini-challenges. The kids worked in pairs - Mark Daniel and Louis, Teja and Alex, and Mark David and Daniil (these two begged to be paired up).
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First challenge was to build an arrangement of gears so that when a motor or a crank turns one gear, the other gear turns faster than the first one. This was a pretty easy and straightforward challenge and most if not all of the kids had experience with this gear arrangement before, so I gave the kids just 5 minutes for it. The main goal here was to warm up, start talking to your partner, and get ready for more difficult challenges.
I gave only 1 minute for the second challenge - to create a gear arrangement such that when one gear is turned, another gear(s) turns slower than the first one. Everyone figured out that they just needed to move the motor to the last gear from Challenge 1. The only problem for some was that in building Challenge 1 they didn’t use long enough axles to connect the gears to the beams.
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Challenge 3 was inspired by Mark Daniel and Louis who were exploring crown gear arrangements. So the other two teams were challenged to figure out how to get the gears moving when one gear is at a right angle to another gear. Hint: use a special gear. This was a difficult problem and the team that worked together the best got a spectacular multigear setup with the crown gear correctly positioned. The team members that refused to work together even after prompting and continuously distracted each other failed spectacularly not only not finishing, but not getting anywhere near the solution.
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Challenge 4, the last challenge of the day, was inspired by Teja. The task was to build a pulley arrangement so that when one pulley is rotated, the other one(s) rotates at a different speed. This was unexpectedly difficult for all teams. So I asked them to go back to the first challenge and think about how they selected the gears so one would rotate faster/slower. This got everyone on the right track - to find different-sized pulleys. The problem was that the only pulleys that were immediately recognizable were all the same size. So we talked about the two important features of a pulley - a hole in the center for the axle and the groove around the circumference for the rubber band (belt). Finding similarities between things is a much more difficult task than finding differences. But eventually everyone recognized the “little yellow and grey pieces” as possible pulleys. More importantly, all three teams were working together and completed the challenge.
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Note on building: Unnecessary pieces - this is pretty common - kids pile up LEGO pieces in their builds. Usually it’s no big deal. But sometimes, as Teja and Alex found out, an unnecessary piece creates big issues and the model doesn’t work. We are going to talk about this all through the rest of the season. Overall, the more moving parts there are in the model, the more chances something will malfunction. Also, we are going to talk about differences between static models (where you want pieces to be tightly connected to each other) and dynamic models (where you need to leave some room between pieces to avoid chafing)
Another note on building: Please, do not build for your children whether at home or at the meetings! It does them a huge disservice. Do not tell them which piece to remove or which piece to add and where. Instead, ask guiding questions that allow kids be in charge of their builds and discoveries:
Instead of “This pieces shouldn’t be here” ask “Are there any pieces here that serve no purpose?”
Instead of “Here, use this axle instead of that one” say “Seems like the problem here is that the axle is too short to be connected to a motor (after a child demonstrates this problem). Are there any pieces in the kit that would help with this problem?”
Instead of “Put this gear here and use this gear there” ask “Did you check if your gears interlock? What can you do to get them to interlock?”
Better yet, see if other teams solved the same issue (or are working on it) and encourage your child to talk and work with them. This is not about coming up on top, being the best, or the first, or the smartest. It is about working together in a meaningful way.
Programming with Silly Robot
With only 10 minutes left, the kids wanted to play the Silly Robot. Except everyone wanted to be a robot and we didn’t have time to play 6 rounds of this game. So instead, I was the programmer of 6 robots. This was very tough. I didn’t tell them what the task was going to be, but I wanted to get them to work together on getting a piece of paper towel and a spray bottle to the whiteboard and erasing our notes. This was fun (I think) and it was awesome when I made a few unintentional mistakes and the kids caught them and corrected me. I am hoping with moving to the old Forge (internet connection and computers) we can start programming with WeDo kits.
Homework
Optional, as usual. To be done by the kids, as usual.
Create your version of a logo for the team.
Continue thinking about the Challenge itself (since, as it turns out, jumping on a trampoline while reading a book is a) not a good idea and b) technically not feasible as the main idea. But it’s still a fun and interesting supporting idea.)
Build lots of stuff with gears and pulleys. How about something with a worm gear?
See you next week! (or tomorrow for those who will be at the Science Cafe)
Challenge Discussion
We started the meeting by talking about things we learned in the previous week or two.Alex told us about his experiment with jumping on a trampoline while reading a book. He said it was a failure (very literally, since he fell and bumped his knee). He also explained about the difference between regular and spring-free trampolines. This got us to discuss the limitations of the LEGO bricks in terms of bounce, flexibility, etc. The general feeling was that it wasn’t possible to build a working trampoline driven by a motor (this discussion happened before Mark David got to the meeting).
However, Alex watched a video on how to make a working trampoline out of LEGOs and his mom shared the link - __http://youtu.be/8lEQZtStrck__
Your child might be interested in watching it and building their own version of this model. If they decide to use it in their challenge, they will need to overcome 1 obstacle - in the video, the model uses a regular rubberband, but the JrFLL rules specify that only standard LEGO components can be used in the model. Can this model be built to fit this requirement? Something for the kids to think about and try at home.
We also talked about things that help us learn and things that distract us from learning. As we discussed these factors, we figured out that some distractions can, under right circumstances, be transformed into help (for example, a friend is a distraction if he’s talking while you’re trying to learn; but a friend is helpful if he’s helping you understand the things you’re trying to learn; a book can be helpful if it is relevant to the subject you’re studying, but a distraction if you stay up way late reading it and then are too tired in class the next day). Alex said that a book is also helpful because it can be read to a noisy brother (distraction) and keep him quiet.
Simple Machines
We spent the next 40 minutes or so exploring simple machine kits through a series of mini-challenges. The kids worked in pairs - Mark Daniel and Louis, Teja and Alex, and Mark David and Daniil (these two begged to be paired up).
First challenge was to build an arrangement of gears so that when a motor or a crank turns one gear, the other gear turns faster than the first one. This was a pretty easy and straightforward challenge and most if not all of the kids had experience with this gear arrangement before, so I gave the kids just 5 minutes for it. The main goal here was to warm up, start talking to your partner, and get ready for more difficult challenges.
I gave only 1 minute for the second challenge - to create a gear arrangement such that when one gear is turned, another gear(s) turns slower than the first one. Everyone figured out that they just needed to move the motor to the last gear from Challenge 1. The only problem for some was that in building Challenge 1 they didn’t use long enough axles to connect the gears to the beams.
Challenge 3 was inspired by Mark Daniel and Louis who were exploring crown gear arrangements. So the other two teams were challenged to figure out how to get the gears moving when one gear is at a right angle to another gear. Hint: use a special gear. This was a difficult problem and the team that worked together the best got a spectacular multigear setup with the crown gear correctly positioned. The team members that refused to work together even after prompting and continuously distracted each other failed spectacularly not only not finishing, but not getting anywhere near the solution.
Challenge 4, the last challenge of the day, was inspired by Teja. The task was to build a pulley arrangement so that when one pulley is rotated, the other one(s) rotates at a different speed. This was unexpectedly difficult for all teams. So I asked them to go back to the first challenge and think about how they selected the gears so one would rotate faster/slower. This got everyone on the right track - to find different-sized pulleys. The problem was that the only pulleys that were immediately recognizable were all the same size. So we talked about the two important features of a pulley - a hole in the center for the axle and the groove around the circumference for the rubber band (belt). Finding similarities between things is a much more difficult task than finding differences. But eventually everyone recognized the “little yellow and grey pieces” as possible pulleys. More importantly, all three teams were working together and completed the challenge.
Note on building: Unnecessary pieces - this is pretty common - kids pile up LEGO pieces in their builds. Usually it’s no big deal. But sometimes, as Teja and Alex found out, an unnecessary piece creates big issues and the model doesn’t work. We are going to talk about this all through the rest of the season. Overall, the more moving parts there are in the model, the more chances something will malfunction. Also, we are going to talk about differences between static models (where you want pieces to be tightly connected to each other) and dynamic models (where you need to leave some room between pieces to avoid chafing)
Another note on building: Please, do not build for your children whether at home or at the meetings! It does them a huge disservice. Do not tell them which piece to remove or which piece to add and where. Instead, ask guiding questions that allow kids be in charge of their builds and discoveries:
- Instead of “This pieces shouldn’t be here” ask “Are there any pieces here that serve no purpose?”
- Instead of “Here, use this axle instead of that one” say “Seems like the problem here is that the axle is too short to be connected to a motor (after a child demonstrates this problem). Are there any pieces in the kit that would help with this problem?”
- Instead of “Put this gear here and use this gear there” ask “Did you check if your gears interlock? What can you do to get them to interlock?”
Better yet, see if other teams solved the same issue (or are working on it) and encourage your child to talk and work with them. This is not about coming up on top, being the best, or the first, or the smartest. It is about working together in a meaningful way.Programming with Silly Robot
With only 10 minutes left, the kids wanted to play the Silly Robot. Except everyone wanted to be a robot and we didn’t have time to play 6 rounds of this game. So instead, I was the programmer of 6 robots. This was very tough. I didn’t tell them what the task was going to be, but I wanted to get them to work together on getting a piece of paper towel and a spray bottle to the whiteboard and erasing our notes. This was fun (I think) and it was awesome when I made a few unintentional mistakes and the kids caught them and corrected me. I am hoping with moving to the old Forge (internet connection and computers) we can start programming with WeDo kits.
Homework
Optional, as usual. To be done by the kids, as usual.See you next week! (or tomorrow for those who will be at the Science Cafe)